The UnNamed
by Nickolaidas
Summary: Trunks came from the future to put things right, and save the world from extinction. This story covers his last hours in the future timeline before coming to the past. Note: This story is directly related with my "River of Fate" storyline, NOT the canon story.


Earth Date: 787, December 9th Location: Central City

The streets of Central City looked deserted and lifeless, the only sound being the air whistling and the occasional empty soda can rolling through the sidewalk, or a torn newspaper page scratching the pavement. Heavy clouds were filling the sky, a sure sign of upcoming rain. Destroyed buildings composed the largest part of the town, with huge craters on some spots, as if the city once faced bombardment. An unclean dog was scavenging over some garbage, when it tilted its head to the street across it, the sound of footsteps alerting the animal.

A man was running, panicked, looking at his back now and then, as fast as his legs could carry him. "Oh God oh God oh God oh God", he muttered to himself, when suddenly his eyes opened wide, as he saw a creature appearing from an alley close to him. The creature was tall and slender, had pink skin, wore white long pants, and while it was bald, its head had a long tentacle protruding from its top.

"You!" the man yelled to the creature, "Go! Something ... something killed my wife!" the man went to the pink creature, crying and panting at the same time.

"What happened?" the pink creature asked, calmly and confidently.

"My ... my wife ... she said she saw something ... and ... next thing I knew ... she ... she ... was -"

Without letting him finish the sentence, the creature pulled a small electronic device from one of its pants pockets, pointed it at the man and pressed a button. A bright green light flashed in front of the man's eyes, and he immediately calmed down, his face now having a very puzzled and confused expression, instead of a terrified one.

"W-what ...", said the man, "where ... where am I? What ... what am I ... what am I doing here ..." he looked completely lost.

The creature then looked at a crumbled wall next to them, and pointed at the debris with its tentacle. He focused at a large separate chunk of the crumbled wall, and plainly uttered the following words from its mouth: "Become a healthy meal".

A pink beam was fired from its tentacle's tip, and hit its target. After a large PUFF! sound followed with heavy smoke, a large dish was among the debris, with a delicious well-cooked meal for two on top of it. The creature walked towards the dish, picked it up, then walked to the man, and gave him the dish. Finally, the creature touched the man with one hand, and pointed to him a small boy who was standing still with its other. The boy looked at both of them in the back end of the alley, saying nothing.

"You see that boy?" the creature asked the man. The man looked at the human kid and nodded. "You take this dish to the kid, and you both eat, ok? You both eat." The man looked confused, but in the next minute he nodded again to the creature and walked to the boy with the dish in his hands.

Super Boo sighed and walked away.

* * *

On the rooftop of a large building, Krillin was gazing at the landscape before him. He brushed his grey hair and rubbed his moustache with his hand. On one corner of the rooftop, there was a birdcage filled with pigeons. After a couple of minutes, the door connecting the building's interior with the rooftop opened, and a young man with purple hair, a blue jacket, and a sword sheathed on his back appeared. He walked a few steps, then stood next to Krillin.

"Is he late again, Master?" he asked, looking at about the same direction the old monk was.

"If anything, that's good", the runt replied, "That probably means he found them, Trunks."

"Bulma", Trunks stuttered, "er- I mean, mother, said that she's almost done." At the minute he finished that sentence, Krillin's eyes opened wide and he turned to face the boy.

"Seriously?" the monk asked smiling, "That's ... that's pretty encouraging. We just have to hold out for a few more days for field testing, and ... we're good to go!"

"Should we go and check it out, Krillin-San?" Trunks offered.

"No, not yet", Krillin replied raising his finger, "I want to hear how Vegeta and Brolly are doing on the East City Sector."

Suddenly, both of them turned around as they heard a slithering sound of slime crawling on the rooftop's opposite edge. A thick, pink blob appeared and slithered to the floor of the rooftop. Krillin and Trunks waited patiently for the slime to assume its normal form, as it slowly rose up and took a more humanoid form. In the end, Super Boo was standing before them.

"I'm back", the creature said, grudgingly.

"Good to see a friendly face", the monk said with a smile. "So, did you find them? Did you find -"

"All dead", the pink creature said grimly, cutting him off. "Brolly, Vegeta, Roshi, #17 ... they must have had a breach. **He** got them all." All three were silent for a few seconds. The monk walked a few steps, with his fists clenched and his face trembling with rage.

"F&%K!" Krillin screamed angrily and kicked a bucket next to him, throwing it miles away from the rooftop and startling the pigeons next to him. "Now we are down to just us, #18 all by herself on South City, and the team on West City. And we don't even know if they're ... no, no they're alive, I'm sure of it. They had their communicators fried last month before, based on what I've read. That is why they don't respond to our daily broadcast. They're fine."

"So my father's dead", said Trunks without a hint of emotion to his voice. "You know ...", he said with a chuckle, "I don't even remember him. His face. His -" Krillin cut him off.

"The less you remember, the better. We've been over this before", the monk said, attempting to regain his temper.

"Found two humans on my way back", Boo said, "I used my two last Inhibitors on them. That should keep them safe for a while."

"Good job", the monk replied. Boo just gave a half-hearted nod.

The door opened again, and Tien showed up. "Guys", he said wearily, "Bulma wants to show you the Time Machine. Come on down."

"Yeah, I'll be there as I send another note to the team on West City. You go ahead guys."

Super Boo and Trunks nodded, and walked inside the building. Tien just looked at Krillin, who was taking out a pigeon from its birdcage and tying a wrapped note to its leg. The Triclops didn't say anything, he just looked at the monk. The runt must have felt his gaze, since he began speaking, apparently to the Shaolin.

"It's Vegeta's fault", he finally said. The Triclops didn't reply. "About what happened to East City, I mean. I bet the a-hole actually didn't use an Inhibitor because he wanted **him **to find our glorious Saiyan Prince, and get challenged by **him** to a duel. Freakin' jack-ass. Do you know he actually came to Earth to destroy it, about 20 years ago? I saw it on an old TV newscast Bulma had recorded", he said while closing the birdcage, "He even had a Saiyan underling, I think ... his name was Nappa. And came to our planet like a gentleman, with the intention of nuking it to cinders".

"Is that the fourth note you're sending to West City?" Tien finally asked.

"Maybe", the monk said without making eye contact with Tien, making sure the knot on the pigeon's leg was tight, "Don't really remember."

"They're gone, Krillin", the shaolin commented.

"They've had problems with their communicators in the past", the runt replied, "the last pigeons may have gone lost, or died or -"

"They're gone, Krillin", the shaolin commented.

"WE DON'T F*&KING KNOW THAT, ALRIGHT!?" the monk screamed, turning his head to the Triclops.

Both men looked at each other without saying anything. Krillin turned his attention to the pigeon he was carrying. "Go", the monk said, "go to your home on West City." He lashed his arms to the air, making the bird fly away.

"Let's go downstairs to Bulma", Krillin said, and both men entered the building's interior

* * *

[what was written on Krillin's Note]

If you are reading this, and you don't know who you are, rest assured that you did that in order to save your life. Know also that you are one of the few people left alive in this world. A few weeks ago, we were under attack. Not by aliens, not by conquering warlords, not by world-destroying robots. We are under attack by a creature that lives inside our own minds. I fear to say more, because the more you know, the more power you give **him**. I'll help you, but you must prove to me that you are alive and able to communicate with me.

If you are a young man, with spiky hair and dark eyes, your name is Goten.

If you are a middle-aged man with scars on your face, your name is Yamcha.

If you have albino skin, a pale face and a green, insect-like body armor, your name is Cell.

The pigeon that brought you this message is trained to come back to me, so if you write me an answer to verify that you're alive, I can fill you in on more details. If, for whatever reason, you lack the means to write, simply pierce a hole in the center of the paper with your index finger.

Hang in there, our salvation is coming.

Krillin

* * *

3 HOURS BEFORE TIME MACHINE ACTIVATION

Inside the building, Bulma, Krillin, Trunks, Super Boo and Tien were all in a large underground facility, which served as the building's basement. If the world was a normal place, people would have acknowledged the building as a mall, but now it was a refuge for the last few survivors of the planet.

"So," Bulma said proudly, "this is it. The Time Machine."

"You finally did it", Krillin said impressed, "despite having all these blanks, every one in a while."

"Well, Dr Briefs deserves most of the praise, actually. His machine was 65% done in theory and blueprints, I just took over from there. Having also recorded himself in the principles and navigation of time streaming, and generally all the work he put on the project ..., well, I doubt I could finish it in time, with the Inhibitors and all." She stood silent for a minute, then smiled and looked at the machine. "Still, pretty cool, eh?"

"Dr. Briefs?" Boo asked puzzled.

"He must have been my father", Bulma said turning to the pinkish humanoid, "The man must have been years ahead of his time. Guess I know where I got my genes".

"Em, 'mother' ", Trunks said hesitantly, "Boo saw that Mr. Vegeta, my father, is dead".

"Oh", Bulma said, "well, that sucks". She walked casually and sat on a small crate, placing her hands beneath her jaw, with her elbows placed on her knees, and tilted her head, trying to remember. "I think ... I loved him. Not ... really sure, though. Still, we made ourselves a fine young man, right?"

Trunks made a small smile and looked on the glassy floor, looking at his reflection.

"When will you field test the machine, Bulma?" Krillin asked.

"Right now I am charging it, it will be done in ... about 3 hours", she said casually. "I set time coordinates for 767, it's about the time when you guys had your Civil War. You two will be able to zip in and zip out without any problems. Still it's just for testing, once we see that the time machine works, we can schedule a better time date to enter, and do our job much easier."

"Can't believe that we're going to actually pull this off", Tien said, "We will be able to save the world ... ourselves ... I can't believe it."

"Why do Krillin and Trunks go?" Boo asked, "Why not all of us?"

"My father originally had the concept of the machine for only two people", Bulma explained, "I didn't want to jerk around with the machine's mass, it may screw up the time stream. As for Trunks and Krillin being the ones that are going, it's just scheduled for the test. In the real deal, you can go."

Boo looked at the machine and smiled.

"Alright, let's get some shut eye, and three hours later we'll enter the machine", Krillin told Trunks and Bulma.

"Alright, Krillin-San", Trunks replied while making a small bow.

"I'll be on the communicator", Tien commented, "in case #18 ... (he looked at Krillin) or Yamcha make any broadcasts."

"I'll just walk around the mall", Boo said.

* * *

2 HOURS AND 35 MINUTES BEFORE TIME MACHINE ACTIVATION

Trunks made himself comfortable on the bunk bed, looking at his mentor lying on his. He was excited at the opportunity to correct the horrible turn of events that transpired in the last 20 years (although frankly, the last few weeks were the most horrible of all), but he was still nervous. What if the machine wouldn't work? What if it worked but didn't take them to the correct time stream? What if -

"Relax", Krillin said in a calm voice, with his eyes closed and his hands behind his head, "you're so nervous I can taste it."

"Master?" Trunks asked.

"Mm?" came Krillin's response.

"If I go to the past, and I stop taking the Inhibitors ... do you think my memory will come back to me?" he said, his eyes on the rant.

The runt stood motionless for a few seconds, then slightly shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows", he answered with honesty, "it's not like anyone did that and lived, after ... well, you know."

"I'd just like to remember them ... my parents, really get to know them. I see my mother, Bulma, but ... she's like a stranger to me. It's hard to feel anything for her." The boy wondered.

"Well, based on what I've seen, we quickly become attached to the first people we spend time with after the Inhibitor dose", the old monk speculated. "You and I spend a lot of time training and searching for survivors in the city streets, that's why we feel our master / student relationship stronger now. Bulma was on her lab for quite a few days, which is why you didn't get to see her a lot after your last Inhibitor, and as a result, you can't really relate to her." Krillin looked at Trunks. "You should also write more notes to yourself. That helps a lot to know how you are supposed to feel about the others."

"Notes?" Trunks asked.

"Yeah, like ... something funny you heard Bulma say, or how she helped you with your jacket button last time ..."

"How much do you write to yourself?" the purple haired youngster asked.

"A lot", the monk answered.

"What do you say?" Trunks inquired.

Krillin didn't answer. He faced at the ceiling and closed his eyes again. "Get some sleep", he finally said.

Trunks looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes, trying to relax.

* * *

10 MINUTES BEFORE TIME MACHINE ACTIVATION

Tien was on the communication room, which was basically a modified camera security room of the mall, having connection with the other City sectors in order to speak with the other teams. However, their numbers *were* running dangerously thin in the last few days ... could it be that **he **knew that they were about to do something to escape? And **he** was trying to prevent it?

For a last time before he leave the room and go to get some sleep himself, Tien opened a wide broadcast to all the other sectors.

"This is Tien, from Central City Sektor. All available sectors, please respond. This is the last check up of Earth Log, 787, December 9th. Please respond."

Of course, he knew that only #18 would respond. The others were dead, he knew it, Krillin was just too stubborn to admit it. Possibly the victims of a breach, though, his guess at how that occurred was as good as anyone's. If everything went well, #18 used her Inhibitor a few hours ago, and she should have the basic notes everyone's been told to carry on them after an inhibitor, to let them know that they shouldn't leave the building, and be on the ready for transmissions from other sectors. And last, but never least, their own names.

#18 being on her own was a risk, but the Time Machine had the highest priority right now, which is why it was decided that at least 5 people should be in the Central City sector.

"#18 here", a weak response came from a screen next to Tien. The Triclops watched as the beautiful woman was sitting to her chair, looking at the screen.

"#18, thank you for replying to the message", Tien said as friendly and assuringly as he could. "My name is Tien. I know that ... you have about a million questions about you, about why you can't remember anything. The thing is, that ... you made YOURSELF forget, and I'll explain why."

"Tien ..." #18 said while watching at her hands for a second.

"This world we're living in, it's ... it's not what it should be, how it should be. A dark force has recently attacked us, and we're doing our best to defend ourselves from it."

"Tien ..." #18 said again, again looking at her hands for a second.

"You, #18, used to be an ally, fighting alongside us, for a purpose that -"

"Tien, listen to me", #18 said, her voice having a hint of desperation.

"What is it, #18?" the Triclops asked.

"I ... think I made a terrible mistake", the woman commented, and gulped.

"What do you mean?" the Shaolin inquired, raising an eyebrow. Suddenly he realized that #18 looked a bit older than she should be. She seemed to have ... wrinkles? And her hair seemed to have a whitey color to them.

"Three days ago, when ... when Krillin came, he ... he told me something ... something that ...", #18 gulped again, her eyes beginning to drop tears, "I wanted to hear so much ... I ... I didn't want to forget ... I thought it was a small thing, didn't matter if I remembered it ..."

Tien's eyes opened wide, both at the implications of what #18 just said, and by the fact that he noticed that she now looked more like a 60 year old woman, rather than in her late teens.

"You ...", Tien whispered, "You didn't ... take your Inhibitor today?"

"I'm sorry", #18 said and lowered her face, with her hair falling in front of her, "I'm so sorry ..."

The Triclops was frozen, trying to decide whether he should -

Then, #18 raised her face again. Her skin was wrinkled and dehydrated, making her look like a person over a hundred years old. Her eyes were black holes, as if a hawk had plucked them out, and her tear lines had a dark red color, as if she was weeping blood.

Tien couldn't move.

#18's body kept on shriveling, dehydrating and shrinking, slowly dropping from her seat until she was not seen anymore on the screen.

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then the Triclops felt a horrible chill on his spine, as if his most horrible, darkest fears have manifested and entered his very soul, expanding, feeding off his own lifeforce. His eyes opened even wider as he saw a shadowy figure appearing on the screen, its face covering the entire frame. The creature was composed of utter darkness, looked like a living shadow, with red, bloodshot eyes wide open, as if **he** was looking into Tien's very soul.

The shaolin heard a chilling, heartless voice inside his head. "**Found you** ..."

With every ounce of his strength, Tien quickly turned off the monitor, and quickly pressed the speaker button that would allow him to be heard in all the floors of the entire building. He screamed with all of his strength, "WE HAVE A BREACH!"

He then jumped from his seat and tried to run away, but quickly grabbed his throat, and started to make choking sounds. He dropped to the floor, coughing smoke, ash and blood, while his own flesh began to boil and sizzle, giving him a tint of red throughout his whole body. Within a few seconds, Tien's flesh had completely dissolved, leaving a skeleton wearing his clothes, with the smoke and ash forming above him a humanoid shape. The creature finally materialized next to Tien's corpse, and slightly moved **his** head around, as if missing direction.

Meanwhile, the second the word "breach" came out of the speakers, Krillin and Trunks literally jumped out of their beds and started running towards the basement of the mall. Bulma appeared out of a door next to them.

"Do we have Inhibitors!?" Krillin yelled.

"No!" Bulma screamed back while running alongside them, "I used all the energy to activate the Time Machine, and I didn't think we would need any until tomorrow!"

"Then we have to go to the Time Machine now - BOO! WE HAVE A BREACH!" Krillin yelled at Boo who appeared from another door to their right.

"I know!" Boo yelled joining the party. "What do we do?!"

"AAH!" Bulma yelled as she slipped and fell to the glassy floor. She started to get up, but froze the second she saw her reflection.

"BULMA, NO! DON'T LOOK!" Trunks screamed.

At the same time, two floors above, the shadowy figure slowly looked over **his** shoulder and narrowed **his** eyes, as if **he** just noticed something.

"She's gone", Krillin told Trunks while grabbing him from his arm, urging him to run, "go! GO!"

"Oh, God ... MOM!" Trunks yelled while following Boo and Krillin. Bulma's body began to levitate to the air, and her limbs began to twist and bend and snap over and over, like dead sticks crashed by an invisible puppetmaster.

Krillin, Trunks and Boo were getting close to the Time Machine, running like madmen. They finally reached the elevator. Krillin furiously pressed the buttons for the machine to come faster. "Come on ... COME ON, GOD DAMMIT!"

Suddenly, they heard a sound like bending metal coming from the door behind them. Trunks took a fighting stance, but Boo went in front of him.

"I'll hold **him** off. You two, go NOW!" the pink humanoid said and fired energy blasts towards the door.

Trunks and Krillin went inside the elevator and closed the door. "Don't look at the mirror below", he told the half-breed. The young man just nodded, sweating, and waited for the door to open. After a hissing sound, they both ran towards the room in front of them. Inside, the Time Machine awaited.

"Alright, the console's here ... time coordinates are already set by Bulma ..." he got cut off by Boo's scream. Quickly turning to his pupil he yelled, "Trunks! Get inside!"

"Alright, I'm in. Come, Krillin-San!" Trunks said, looking at the monk.

Krillin looked at the console, then looked back at Trunks. He pressed a few buttons, and the Machine's door closed.

"Wha- Krillin-San! What are you doing?" Trunks yelled in agony.

"This is where we part ways, Trunks", Krillin said in a confident tone of voice. "The Machine needs a few seconds to be activated. I need to keep **him** here and buy you some time."

"No! No, please PLEASE, Krillin-San, open the door - we'll fight **him** together!" the boy pleaded.

"Trunks, listen to me -" the monk said calmly.

"Krillin-san open-"

"LISTEN TO ME!"

Trunks opened his eyes wide, and stood silent.

"Go to the past. Find ... kill Dr. Gero, that should be enough to make sure that this nightmare never happened. You are our last hope, our ONLY hope. Fix this. Undo the evil that I've done."

"Krillin-San ..." Trunks whispered with tears coming out of his eyes.

Suddenly, the door to the room began to melt and a crimson light started coming through.

"SAVE US ALL!" Krillin yelled as he turned around, and charged the shadowy figure like an immortal hero.

"KRILLIN-SAAAAAAN!" Trunks screamed at the top of his lungs, while the monk's aura created such a light that blinded him - or was it the Time Machine? He couldn't tell at this point. Everything rumbled, shook, Trunks wasn't sure what was happening, if he was going back to time, or if he was dying and going to the afterlife. His body began to shake as the Time Machine shook violently and rumbled. Was he going back in time? Or was **he** feeding on the boy's despair?

Suddenly, the shaking stopped, and the Time Machine's loud humming voice slowly died. Trunks opened his eyes. He couldn't see anything. Hot vapor on the glass door was obscuring his vision. He looked at the Time Machine's Target Date: 767. He pressed the OPEN button and the machine slowly opened its hatch-like door. Trunks came out, and saw that he was transported into a grassland. He stumbled a few steps, fell to the ground and started crying. He could finally mourn.

* * *

My darkest story yet. If you want to find out what will happen to Trunks, and if this apocalyptic future will come to pass, be sure to check out the series this solo-chapter is based on, The River of Fate!


End file.
